The State Public Works Department (PWD) built a total of 15 small and large bridges over Mahanadi river during the past one decade at a project cost of Rs 200 crore, officials informed here on Sunday.
In Raigarh district, the PWD constructed the longest bridge at Surajgarh measuring 1,830 meters over the Mahanadi river.
The Chhattisgarh Government is also getting a Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared for construction of bridges under Centre's RRP-II scheme in five insurgency infested districts of Bastar region .
The districts are Bastar, Sukma, Dantewada, Bijapur and Kanker, officials informed.
Notably, Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rajesh Munat last year said that Rs 53 crore had been spent in constructing 16 important bridges in the State during 2016-17.
Many crucial big and small bridges had been built for providing an easy access to the remote areas of the State, he said.
The PWD has also built 18 Railway over and under bridges in high density traffic areas in the State involving a cost of Rs 300 crore during the past 13 years, officials informed.
Munat informed that currently, five key Railway over and under bridges are under construction at a cost of Rs 222 crores in Raipur, Bilaspur and Janjgir-Champa districts. The bridges are coming up at Shankar Nagar, Kashiram Nagar, lal Kadan, Khoksa and Champa.
The Chhattisgarh Government in May last year also announced that it will take up construction of 63 long-span bridges under ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ (PMGSY) in different districts of the State, officials informed.
On the other hand, as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visionary ‘Setu Bharatam Yojana’, the State Public Work Department (PWD) has initiated efforts for construction of over-bridges and under-bridge at railway crossing across the State for ensuring smooth and accident-free vehicular movement, officials stated.
In the State Budget 2016-17, Chief Minister Raman Singh has included the proposal of as many as five railway over-bridges in ‘Setu Bharatam Yojana’ for reconstruction of railway level-crossings, old and narrow-bridges falling on national highways, informed officials, adding that of five bridges, two over-bridges will be constructed between Manendragarh and Ambikapur, two between Mahasamund and Kharir Road (Odisha) and one railway over-bridge at village Keshloor in Bastar district.
For construction of four railway under-bridges and four railway over-bridges, the Chief Minister has made a financial provision of Rs 13.16 crore from the Department’s general expenditure head in this budget, said Munat.
He said that the construction of these eight railway bridges will be costing Rs 54.71 crore, of which Rs 36.55 crore would be the estimated expenditure for construction of four over-bridges while Rs 18.16 crore will be required in construction of four under-bridges.
Similarly, the Chief Minister had announced to carry out a survey for construction of over and under-bridges at 41 railway level-crossings on Raigarh-Dongargarh route. The survey work is going to cost Rs 1.05 crore.
The project aims to make all national highways free from railway level crossing by 2019 to ensure road safety. Under the project, 208 bridges will be built at a cost of Rs 20,800 crore. Also, 1,500 old bridges will be reconstructed, which will cost Rs 30,000 crore.
As many as 29 Road Over Bridges (RoBs) have also been sanctioned by the Central Government during the current financial year under South East Central Railway (SECR) division.
At present, there are 1,156 sanctioned works for construction of 1,399 ROBs across the country, officials stated.
Fund for construction of Road Over Bridges (ROBs) or Road Under Bridges (RUBs) or Subways; elimination of level crossings and other safety works related to level crossings come from Central Road Fund (CRF) as a percentage of cess collected on petrol and diesel by Union Ministry of Finance.
A provision of Rs 4,180.87 crore has been made for South East Central Railway (SECR) in the Union Railway budget to provide a further boost to its development activities.
The Chhattisgarh Government will be constructing a total of six new roads in insurgency infested Kondagaon district of Bastar under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, officials informed.
The Chhattisgarh Government will also soon carry out survey for developing a wide set of new rural roads across the State.
It will also get Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared for taking up the road projects, officials informed.
A total of 6,372 rural roads measuring 26,815 kms had been prepared in Chhattisgarh so far involving an expenditure of Rs 7,880 crore under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) during the current financial year so far, they informed.
A total of 6,697 rural roads had been approved by the Central Government measuring 29,562 kms under PMGSY.
A total of 105 new roads would be constructed in various districts of Chhattisgarh under batch-II of the project work under PPMGSY, officials informed.
It may be recalled that the worst insurgency infested districts of Chhattisgarh would be able to further provide a boost to rural road connectivity work with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely "Road Connectivity Project for left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas".
The project is aimed at improving the rural road connectivity in the worst lWE affected districts from security angle, officials informed.
The project will be implemented as a vertical under PMGSY to provide connectivity with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures in 44 worst affected lWE districts and adjoining districts in the country, critical from security and communication point of view. The roads will be operable throughout the year irrespective of all weather conditions.
Under the project, construction/upgradation of 5,411.81 km road and 126 bridges/Cross Drainage works will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 11,724.53 crore in the above district.
The fund sharing pattern of lWE road project will be same as that of PMGSY ie in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and States for all States except for eight North Eastern and three Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10.
The Union Ministry of Finance will have to allocate to Union Ministry of Rural Development Rs 7,034.72 crore for this project during the period of implementation 2016-17 to 2019-20.
The Union Ministry of Rural Development will be the sponsoring Ministry as well as the implementing Ministry of this project. The likely duration of implementation of the project is four years from 2016-17 to 2019-20.
The "Road Connectivity Project for lWE affected areas" is envisaged in lWE States including the 35 worst affected lWE districts which account for 90 per cent of total lWE violence in the country and 9 adjoining districts critical from security angle as per the inputs and lists of roads/districts provided by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The roads taken up under the scheme would include Other District Roads (ODRs), Village Roads (VRs) and upgradation of the existing Major District Roads (MDRs) that are critical from the security point of view. Bridges up to a span of 100 meters, critical from security angle would also be funded on these roads.
A total of 105 new roads would be constructed in various districts of Chhattisgarh under batch-II of the project work under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), officials informed.
It may be recalled that the worst insurgency infested districts of Chhattisgarh would be able to further provide a boost to rural road connectivity work with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely "Road Connectivity Project for left Wing Extremism (lWE) Affected Areas".
The project is aimed at improving the rural road connectivity in the worst lWE affected districts from security angle, officials informed.
The project will be implemented as a vertical under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) to provide connectivity with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures in 44 worst affected lWE districts and adjoining districts in the country, critical from security and communication point of view. The roads will be operable throughout the year irrespective of all weather conditions.
Under the project, construction/upgradation of 5,411.81 km road and 126 bridges/Cross Drainage works will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 11,724.53 crore in the above district.
The Central Government has approved a revised cost of Rs 3,045 crore under its Road Requirement Plan (RRP) for improvement of road connectivity in left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas of Chhattisgarh.
Overall, the Centre has approved a Road Requirement Plan (RRP) for improvement of road connectivity in left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas of a total of 34 Districts in 8 States covering 5,477 km length (1,126 km NHs & 4,351 km) State Roads.
In Chhattisgarh, the fund had been approved for improvement of road connectivity in left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected areas measuring 2019 kms.
